In the copending application Ser. No. 060,779, filed July 26, 1979 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,000 of Oct. 28, 1980, there is disclosed a kitchen appliance in the form of a cap-gripper for use in removing caps from jars, which includes relatively movable clamping jaws and a motor-driven screw for moving the jaws between clamping and non-clamping positions. It has been found desirable to provide a can-opener in combination with this cap-gripper so that the combination appliance can either open jars or cans. It is desirable to drive the can-opener from the same electric motor but some arrangement must be provided to disconnect the cap-gripper from the motor when the can-opener is operated.